1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the field of hair care products, more particularly hair restorative compositions and methods for treating (e.g., strengthening) damaged hair.
2. The Relevant Technology
In today's glamour-conscious society, a person's appearance can determine many things, including social status and economic success. Looking one's best is often a top priority. Many beautifying treatments have been developed, and continue to be developed, which are designed to help people change the appearance of their hair. These include hair color or bleaching treatments for people who want a different color hair, permanents and body waves for people with straight or flat hair, hair relaxation treatments for people with wavy or kinky hair, each of which alters the chemical structure of hair in some way. In general, the more radical the change in hair appearance, the greater will be the chemical alteration of, and potential damage to, the hair.
The unfortunate byproduct of the many hair treatments is that chemically treated hair can easily become damaged. Natural forces such as salt water and sunlight are also known to damage hair. Damaged hair is characterized by unnatural discontinuities in the protein structure of the individual hair strands or shafts. Examples include split ends, dry straw-like hair, hair that is easily broken, and hair that is generally frizzed-out and unmanageable. Because the visible portion of hair is dead, it has no ability to regenerate itself. The only way to naturally regenerate one's hair is to allow healthy hair to grow out and replace the damaged portion.
Because hair is dead and lacks regenerative properties, the end result of over-treating hair can be worse than not treating hair at all. Because of this, persons who never treat their hair generally have healthier hair over the long run than people who treat their hair. Therefore, while spending a lot of money on expensive hair beautification treatments can yield desirable short-term results, the long-term result is often hair that is damaged and even less attractive than before such treatments were performed. This can pose a Faustian dilemma, particularly to people who are required by their profession to have treated hair, such as models and actors.
There are numerous over-the-counter and salon treatments that purport to fix damaged hair. These include conditioners, hot oil treatments, hydrolyzed proteins, vitamin formulations, and exotic fruit, leaf or root extracts that are said to be absorbed by the hair. In reality, such treatments only coat the hair shafts superficially with foreign materials that do not become permanently integrated within the protein structure of the hair. In the short run, coating dry, damaged or split hair with certain materials can cause the hair to look better. However, such materials generally wash off each time the hair is shampooed, requiring continued application to obtain any long-term benefit. Materials that do not wash off easily can build up over time, requiring periodic deep cleansing treatments to remedy that problem. The end result is that such treatments can mask but not reverse the underlying damage to the protein structure associated with physically or chemically damaged hair.
In the end, the objective consensus of experts who study hair is that none of the many highly touted conditioners, hot oil treatments, protein, vitamin or natural product treatments actually remedies the underlying damage to the protein structure of hair. Such treatments are in most cases completely worthless if the goal is to permanently reverse hair damage. In a common scenario, a person shampoos his or her hair, which strips the hair of natural oils secreted by the scalp, which are intended to naturally moisturize the otherwise dry, dead protein structure of a person's hair. Thereafter, the person applies a conditioner to restore or replace the stripped oils, usually with an oil, fatty acid, protein, carbohydrate, or humectant that is actually foreign to the hair. Though this cycle is, at some level, self-defeating and pointless, it is typically repeated on a daily basis. For a more long-term solution, hair salons and professional hair stylists offer special conditioning treatments, usually at much greater expense. In short, the consensus among hair experts is that once hair has been damaged, it will remain damaged until new hair grows out to take its place.
This can, and often does, have devastating consequences on persons who make a living looking beautiful, especially models. One model was told, after her hair was severely damaged, that she would have to retire for seven months until new hair could grow in to replace the damaged hair. In more general terms, people would simply like to have the option of having their hair treated without the risk of irreparably damaging their hair.
In view of the foregoing, there is a tremendous need, long felt in the art, to provide improved remedies or treatments that can reverse the effects of physical and chemical damage to hair.